Sophia Antipolis, 19 April 2016

ETSI welcomes and broadly supports the Communication released today by the European Commission on Digitising European Industry, and the accompanying documents, in particular the ICT Standardization Priorities for the Digital Single Market.

ETSI finds of particular relevance the emphasis put on the strategic dimension of standardization to support European competitiveness at a global level. As highlighted by the Communication, European leadership in standards setting will increase competitiveness and help European innovations better access global markets.

As an industry-driven standardization body, ETSI is pleased to note the emphasis put on industry-driven standardization, whilst agreeing that the digital economy implies the involvement of actors from beyond the ICT industry in order to ensure that standards reflect the increasingly diverse market dynamics.

The Commission has identified a number of technology domains which will be essential building blocks of the Digital Single Market: 5G communications, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Big Data technologies and Cybersecurity. These are domains in which ETSI is actively leading international standardization work, and which have been identified as key technical priorities in ETSI’s Long Term Strategy 2016-2021, agreed this week by ETSI members. ETSI is equally pleased that agility and innovative ways of working are highlighted as key characteristics of ICT standardization, as those characteristics feature in ETSI’s Long Term Strategy.

ETSI notes the Commission’s plan to establish a number of platforms and coordinating or stakeholders groups to support the initiatives announced today. ETSI engages to participate fully in the groups relevant to its work, although this will be alongside ETSI’s participation in a number of existing groups established by the Commission. Some rationalization of the number of such groups and interfaces between them could be envisaged in the future, as an effective governance of the overall system will be key to a successful implementation of the measures put forward by the Commission.

ETSI will bring to these groups the combined expertise and experience of its over 800 member organizations and its network of partners, together with a spirit of transparency and a consensus-based approach to standardization which is a characteristic of all ETSI work. ETSI is no stranger to working in cooperation with the European Commission, noting that the Commission already funds selected standardization projects and provides an Annual Union Work Programme for Standardization, together with a Rolling Plan on ICT Standardization, detailing the Commission’s priority topics for standardization.

About ETSI
ETSI produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, aeronautical, broadcast and internet technologies and is officially recognized by the European Union as a European Standardization Organization. ETSI is an independent, not-for-profit association whose over 800 member companies and organizations (of which 25% are SMEs), drawn from 66 countries, determine its work programme and participate directly in its work.

Contact
Claire Boyer
Tel: +33 (0)4 92 94 43 35
Mob: +33 (0)6 87 60 84 40
Email: claire.boyer@etsi.org
www.etsi.org